CCD Autoguiders

More Information Price $399.95 $499.95 SAVE: $100.00 (20%) Pixel Array 752 x 582 Pixel Size 8.6 x 8.3 microns Weight 16.5 oz. Warranty 1 year

   Interline CCD

The Orion StarShoot Deep-Space CCD Monochrome Imager II sets a new standard in affordable, high-technology imaging for amateur astronomers. The Orion Monochrome Imager II is an easy-to-use high-performance electronic camera that allows every astronomer – including you – to shoot and process stunning deep sky images of galaxies, nebulas, star clusters, and planets their first night out. The Monochrome Imager II allows both stunning black and white shots and sophisticated tri-color images (using an optional filter wheel and color filters).

The best color astrophotos are composed of four separate black and white exposures taken with a monochrome camera through separate Red, Green, Blue, and Luminance (LRGB) filters. It’s a process called tri-color imaging and it’s a task the Deep Sky Monochrome Imager II camera can do with ease simply by adding the economical Orion manual 5-Filter Wheel (#ORFW) at a later date. You can also save money over buying the camera, filter wheel, and tri-color imaging filters separately over time by buying them as a single package in the specially-priced #ORPACK.

This tri-color imaging technique leverages the CCD chip’s full sensitivity and resolution, and gives you greater flexibility in image processing than you get with single-shot color images. The monochrome CCD detector is considerably more sensitive than a comparably-sized one-shot color detector, so your exposures take less time, and you can go deeper into space with comparable exposure times. You can also do sophisticated false-color imaging, using a specialized filter (such as an H-Alpha filter) and digitally applying color. Another exciting new avenue is false-color tri-color imaging using narrow band filters such as those for the emission lines of ionized oxygen (Oxygen III), ionized Sulfur (SII), and ionized Hydrogen (H-Alpha). Images taken with this technique have a “Hubble-like" appearance and often reveal exciting new details in familiar objects.

This Orion StarShoot has an image-enhancing feature that similarly-priced competing CCD cameras do not offer – built-in thermoelectric cooling (TEC). Cooling a CCD chip greatly reduces the heat-generated electronic noise that adversely affects image quality (especially in warm weather). The built-in thermoelectric cooler lets you take uninterrupted exposures up to 100 minutes long (almost twice the length of those competitive uncooled cameras). The highly efficient TEC in the StarShoot is powered for hours by only two D-cell flashlight batteries (not supplied).

The Orion Deep Space Monochrome II includes a CD-ROM of MaxIm DL Essentials Edition software that has been customized from MaxIm DL, the leading CCD imaging utility. The camera’s MaxIm DL Essentials Edition software provides real-time focusing assistance, easy image capture and stacking, and powerful monochrome and tri-color image processing tools, as well as batch processing and multiple-camera support. In addition to Windows XP, the software even works with Windows Vista, something competitive cameras cannot yet do. Why wait for an uncooled competitive camera to update its software to work with the latest Windows program? The Orion StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager II works with Vista now!

The Orion Deep Space Monochrome Imager II works as a CCD camera with any telescope and can also be used as an autoguider for long-exposure 35mm or CCD astrophotography. A 10’ USB cable is supplied to connect the imager to your PC or laptop, so you can display your images on your computer screen and store them to print out later and display. Power for the camera is supplied by your computer via the included USB cable. Some computers have USB ports that are known to not meet the USB specification for output voltage. These computers may not be able to run the Deep Space Monochrome Imager II without the use of an external powered hub. The vast majority of computers, however, meet the proper USB specification, and you should have no problems running the Orion camera off the regular USB power supplied by your computer.

Features of the Camera . . .

• Imaging sensor: High sensitivity/high dynamic range 8mm diagonal Type 1/2 Sony ICX429ALL ExView HAD (Hole Accumulation Diode) interline monochrome CCD sensor. For more details, click on the “Interline" icon above. Sensitivity and dynamic range are higher than previous StarShoot Deep Space Imagers and are comparable to other CCD cameras costing two and three times the Monochrome Imager II’s modest price. Its increased sensitivity reduces the exposure times needed to record faint objects. The wider dynamic range lets the camera record fainter objects without having bright stars in the field saturate the chip. The brightness range between the brightest and faintest objects in the image is correspondingly greater, showing more and fainter objects.
  
  
• Resolution : 752 pixels wide x 582 pixels high (437,664 total pixels). Each pixel measures 8.6 microns wide x 8.3 microns high.
  
  
• Analog to digital conversion: Full 16-bit A/D conversion for greater image depth and contrast.
  
  
• Exposure times: From 0.002 second to 100 minutes. This allows you to record brief images of bright lunar and planetary features without saturating and overloading the imaging detector, as well as take long exposures of faint deep sky nebulas and galaxies that the unaided eye could never perceive.
  
  
• Thermoelectric cooling: Built-in thermoelectric cooler (TEC) to reduce heat-caused electronic noise in the image and increase exposure times without an image-degrading noise build-up. The very efficient TEC cools the camera below ambient temperature and is powered by two D-cell flashlight batteries (not included) that fit into the supplied battery pack. The battery pack has a 6’ cable to connect to the camera and will typically run the TEC for about 20 hours of continuous operation. If you plan on multiple nights of summertime imaging (while on vacation, for example), a useful addition might be an optional external power source (such as a Celestron 12VDC rechargeable Power Tank battery, which has a 3VDC output tap that will duplicate the 3V output of the two D-cell batteries in the standard battery pack, in addition to its normal 12VDC output for operating your telescope). The camera also can be used without thermoelectric cooling, which is often unneeded when imaging in very cold weather (around or below freezing).
  
  
• USB 2.0: The Monochrome Imager II uses a fast USB 2.0 high speed connection to your computer via the included 10’ cable. This allows fast data transfer for lunar and planetary imaging that lets you see your images almost as soon as you take them, making focusing and composing quick and easy. The Monochrome Imager II is also backward compatible with USB 1.1.
  
  
• Connection to the telescope: The Monochrome Imager II has a 1.25" nosepiece that allows you to use it with any telescope having a 1.25" focuser. The nosepiece can be unthreaded to reveal standard 42mm female T-threads in the front plate of the camera, which allow you to thread the camera onto any standard camera adapter, tele-extender, off-axis guider, etc.
  
  
• Power requirements: No batteries or power supplies are required for imaging. Just plug the monochrome Monochrome Imager II’s USB cable into your laptop or PC and you are ready to image or autoguide. Your computer provides the camera’s power. No other power supply is needed for the camera. Two D-cell batteries (not supplied) or an external power supply is needed to power the thermoelectric cooler.
  
  
• Dimensions: The Monochrome Imager II is a compact 4" in diameter x 1.65" deep and weighs only a hair over one pound, so balancing your telescope with the camera on will not require additional counterweights.

• Included components: You get the MaxIm DL Essentials software on a CD-ROM; the StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager II; a 10’ USB Cable; a battery pack with 6’ cord that holds two D-cell flashlight batteries (batteries not supplied) to power the TEC; and an installation and operating instructions manual.
  
  
• Computer requirements: The minimum computer configuration is a Pentium or higher computer; 64 MB of RAM minimum; 67 MB of available hard-drive space for program installation (in addition, a 100 MB swap file is recommended); CD-ROM drive; Windows XP or Vista; 800x600 16-bit color video display (1024x768 or higher is recommended); mouse; and a USB 1.1 port (USB 2.0 is recommended).

The StarShoot Deep-Space CCD Monochrome Imager II comes with MaxIm DL Essentials Edition image capture and processing software. MaxIm DL has long been known as the leading software program for CCD imaging. The MaxIm DL Essentials program displays the target object on your PC screen; automatically captures multiple exposures; automatically aligns and stacks a series of images using state-of-the-art techniques to provide an extremely low noise, highly detailed monochrome image; provides easy, real-time focusing assistance; allows the use of the camera as a high-precision autoguider for a larger CCD camera; and more. You can add color filters for tri-color imaging. The supplied MaxIm DL Essentials Edition software included already has the tools needed to adjust color saturation and balance of those tri-color images, eliminating the need to use Photoshop or other aftermarket tools to accomplish this pre-publication step.

No matter how you look at it – pixel count; improved sensitivity; built-in thermoelectric cooling; advanced MaxIm DL Essentials software; the ability to do advanced tri-color imaging by simply adding a color filter wheel and filters – the Orion StarShoot Monochrome Imager II CCD camera is one of the best-equipped and easiest-to-use CCD cameras available.